In one key way, the kinda-maybe sequel 10 Cloverfield Lane might be the purest example yet of the J.J. Abrams house style. Directed by first-timer Dan Trachtenberg but produced by Abrams (Super 8, Lost, Alias, Cloverfield, etc.) the thriller is yet another of the fannish wunderbrand’s mystery boxes, a genre…
What if Terrence Malick directed an episode of Entourage? Well, we’re about to find out, sort of. In Knight of Cups, the director of Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life turns his roaming camera and ruminating voiceovers toward Los Angeles and the movie business,…
Bryce Dessner is probably best known for his role as guitarist in the baritone-driven indie rock band The National, but he is equally accomplished as a classical composer. “A lot of people ask how I ended up doing classical music given that I’m in a rock band,” he says, speaking…
Terri Doty is a morose teenager trying to assassinate her teacher. She plays one at work, anyway, where today she’s in the sound booth giving life to Kirara in Assassination Classroom. Her teacher/foe is a smiley face with tentacles who blew up the moon and is on a mission to…
The first scene of All the Way, now playing at Dallas Theater Center, lasts approximately four minutes. President Kennedy has just been shot; Lyndon B. Johnson is on his way to take over. Dramatic music, lights fade, scene change. This Tony Award-winning political drama moves along at TV speed, written…
The issue of parity (parity: the state or condition of being equal) is a hot one these days. As corporate America slowly comes around to the idea of giving women luxuries like equal pay and the privilege to have a room with a chair that’s not a toilet to pump…
That spring in our step this week? It’s buoyed by a long-term forecast of rich, diverse and engaging arts events that appeal to the senses and germinate inspiration. There’s a plush seat to plant in pretty much every single night, thanks to the full roster of theater, dance and music…
When the Dallas Opera continued its season Friday night with Manon, the five-act opera by French composer Jules Massenet, the Winspear Opera House was far from full. Perhaps because, although this opera is performed regularly, it doesn’t have the widespread name recognition of earlier offerings this season like Tosca or…
Didn’t get ticket to last month’s Magic Men show at the Bomb Factory? No worries, the Observer did, and videographer Sarah Passon brought along her camera to boot. Take a look at what you missed — acres of ripped male flesh, mainly…
I knew this would happen for some of you. You’ve been telling yourself that you have plenty of time to see Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots at the Dallas Museum of Art. It’s up through March 20, you said. That’s the distant future, you said. I’ll get around to it, you…
There are houses and then there are motherfucking houses. This is one of the second. Designed from the ground up by local architect, designer and great-taste-haver Eddie Maestri, it’s like an ooh and aah odyssey for your pants. Why pants? Why not? You likely know Maestri from his “coming soon”…
The third season of Broad City (Comedy Central) opens with a toilet-centric montage that already feels like one of the year’s TV highlights. At once exuberant, absurd and all-too-real, a split screen reveals besties Ilana (Ilana Glazer) and Abbi (Abbi Jacobson) living their best lives in their respective bathrooms. They…
Feeling tense? Need to take a load off? Looking to treat yo’self? These are all questions you should be asking your dog. In this stressful, fetch-fetch-fetch world, isn’t it time you give that special four-pawed someone a day of being pampered? Sure, you cook her food to keep her coat…
Do This! If you’re obsessed with Zombies —and let’s be honest who isn’t? — the Walker Stalker Con is the place to be this weekend. Hundreds of living dead enthusiasts in one place? Yes, please. It takes place from 10:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. Saturday and 10:30 a.m. – 5…
Two movies, same scenario: Moments before a scheduled execution, just as the blade or gas pellet is set to deliver its fatal blow, the hero bursts into the room and carries the victim to safety. Banter is exchanged: “What took you so long?” “Traffic was a bitch.” “What took you…
American DirtArtists’ using found objects, or trash, in their work is old hat, but that’s not what photographer Jeff Ferrell does. Nope, he documents his dumpster dives photographically. This weekend, the Reading Room (3715 Parry Ave.) teams up with Gavin Morrison and Fraser Stables/Atopia Projects to present American Dirt, a…
Let’s give Gods of Egypt this much: An hour in, a giant cobra crashes and explodes like a bad guy’s car in a dumb movie from the ’70s. That snake, one of two in Alex Proyas’ film, is wide as a locomotive and long as a parade. It’s also straddled…
In Zootopia, animals do a lot of the things that animals in Disney movies usually do: They speak, to begin with; they walk upright and wear funny clothes; they exhibit attitudes that align or ironically misalign with their species’ appearance and reputation; they hold jobs; they experience outsize emotion and…
The title of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa’s strained dark comedy, in which the war in Afghanistan serves as the backdrop to an American woman’s self-actualizing journey, is the military phonetic-alphabet rendering of WTF. The mild Islamophobia and highly questionable casting choices in the film call to mind other texting…
Early Monday afternoon, the WWE finally put the questions and rumors to rest when they announced legendary group, The Fabulous Freebirds (consisting of Michael “P.S.” Hayes, Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy, Buddy “Jack” Roberts, and Jimmy Garvin), will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Super Bowl Sunday morning, I was in a friend’s kitchen with her young daughter and a tin of watercolor pencils. The girl dipped a red one in the water, didn’t wait for a wet brush to trace the strokes after drawing first. Catching a strange word, the daughter asked an…
Saturday Night Live has shaped American culture and the country’s perception of an array of topics and events throughout its 40-year history. And the nation’s politics certainly fits into that idea. Even years after Tina Fey first impersonated Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin with the line, “I can see Russia…
